. Side-lights on Siberia; some account of the great Siberian railroad, the prisons and exile system; . on to these matters on thespot, and are the popular accredited exponents more partic-ularly of the exile system, three stand conspicuously inthe foreground—Dr Lansdell, Mr GeorgeKennan, and Mr De Windt. Into thequestion of the respective merits of thisdistinguished trio it is not my intentionto enter: suffice it to say that at leastin grasp and penetration the Americanexceeded his rivals. At the same time,Mr Kennans account, dealing strictlywith the state of^ affairs m a past decade, cannotin
. Side-lights on Siberia; some account of the great Siberian railroad, the prisons and exile system; . on to these matters on thespot, and are the popular accredited exponents more partic-ularly of the exile system, three stand conspicuously inthe foreground—Dr Lansdell, Mr GeorgeKennan, and Mr De Windt. Into thequestion of the respective merits of thisdistinguished trio it is not my intentionto enter: suffice it to say that at leastin grasp and penetration the Americanexceeded his rivals. At the same time,Mr Kennans account, dealing strictlywith the state of^ affairs m a past decade, cannotin the natureof things be sup-posed to be anaccurate pictureof the condi-tions which sub-sist to-day. Inten years much can be done ; and while the leeway thatRussia has to make up is still considerable, the land of theTzar is probably progressing more rapidly than any otherEuropean State. Mr Kennan and Mr De Windt representtwo extremes of opinion : the truth, as ever, lies between. It is perhaps possible to trace two stages in the evolutionof all that we connote by the word prison. The first stage. Convict ihaifud lo wheelbariow. 196 ALEXANDROVSKY CENTRAL. is that in which the place of incarceration may be typicallyregarded as a dark hole into which the unfortunate niisdoeris thrust, and where, if law has not yet attained to anysublime form of practice, the pursuer at whose instancethe imprisonment has taken place, or even the executors ofthe law itself, may contrive to make the offenders existencemore miserable by torture and maltreatment. While Eussiawas in this stage—and some pessimists hold that she is init still—flogging, branding, amputation of limbs, and impale-ment were no uncommon inflictions. These, however, arecoarse methods of procedure, but there was a certain ex-quisite refinement of cruelty in the law by which the harmlesssnuff-taker had the septum of his nostrils torn out before hewas banished to Siberia. It was during this time—and hereinlies the chief in
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectsiberia, bookyear1898
